


Leo Will Know

by lasairfhiona



Category: West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-19
Updated: 2012-09-19
Packaged: 2017-11-14 15:12:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/516699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Leo will know what to do." Or will he</p><p>Set during the episode "Twenty Five"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leo Will Know

'Leo will know what to do.' The President was the first one to say those words. He used them to reassure the cabinet everything would be okay when he informed them he planned to invoked the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and turn control of the country over to the Speaker of the House. He was the first to hold that belief in Leo, but definitely not the last. After that Margaret began to hear those words bandied about the West Wing by everyone. She wondered if they thought they were magic words would make everything okay again. Make Zoey be returned unharmed. Make the President return to the job. Make the Republican stand in go away and avoid going to war with Qumar, something they weren't sure about not happening with Glen Walken standing in for President Bartlet, especially after his initial declaration about giving one warning then shooting down any plan that tried to play chicken with the US Air Force again.

It had only been a few hours since Justice Sandra Day swore in the Speaker of the House as acting President. In that short time Toby and Will were busy trying to write for President Bartlet, Acting President Walken, and CJ so they could tell the nation what had happened while they slept. In their words, they were also composing a warning, not unlike the one that went out when Josh and President Bartlet were shot. They wanted to tell those who would mess with us, to think again. President Bartlet might have stepped back to avoid doing anything rash to protect his daughter and bring her home alive, but that didn't mean others wouldn't stand for him and those others wouldn't make an example of those who messed with us. 

The Senior Staff and their assistants tried to continue their jobs amid their concern for the President and Zoey, not to mention what would transpire with their political enemy leading the country, no matter how temporarily. No matter how stunning an act of patriotism his stepping back to be a father first represented

'Leo will know what to do,' had become their mantra. Margaret supposed their belief in those words would be what got them through this crisis. She, however, wasn't so how true it was or not. Not that she doubted Leo wouldn't know what to do. He would. He would know what President Bartlet would want done and not done. She was even sure Leo would be able to walk the fine line and be able to work with President Walken. What Margaret wasn't so sure of was whether or not Leo could continue to function without being able to express his own concerns and fears. Fears he was burying deep so he could get through this crisis. Fears she was sure the others hadn't thought he felt because he was their rock. He was the one they all looked to when the chips were down as they definitely were now. She knew him and she knew what he felt was the same as the rest of the senior staff. The same worry about the future. The same worry about what would happen to President Bartlet if Zoey was never found or even killed. He also had another concern -- one that ran deeper than anything else. It was a concern for his friends – Jed and Abbey and the safety of their daughter.

Margaret had tried to get Leo to sleep even if it was just for an hour. The first time she tried, he'd told her he'd sleep when the President slept. The second time she tried, he told her he couldn't because Walkin might need him. It was now dawn and she knew he'd been going for twenty-four hours, undoubtedly on sheer determination and more caffeine than was good for him, or for her for that matter, since she too was coming up on the twenty-four hour mark. It wasn't her lack of sleep she worried about. It was his and him in general. The pressure he would be under in the coming days would be enough to make an ordinary man bend, if not break. Leo was strong and could withstand the pressure of the job. Even thrive off it. What worried Margaret was Leo personally. Could he handle the frustration he had because they didn't have a Vice President to relinquish power to thanks to Hoynes? Could he handle working for the Republican's and Walken? Could he channel the frustrations he would hear from the Senior Staff to keep them working as productively for President Walken as they did for President Bartlet? Could he endure the personal pressure he would put himself under trying to be everything to everybody? There were a lot more in the way of repercussions for all of them if Leo broke rather than one of the others. Leo breaking meant him crawling into a bottle, be it booze or pills. She'd seen what it had done to him the first time and she would do whatever it took to keep that from happening again.

Making a decision, Margaret called over to Debbie Fidder's office and found out from her whether or not the acting President could do without Leo for at least an hour. Debbie assured her she would make sure they could do without Leo for a while, even if it meant calling Josh. That was all Margaret needed to hear. Now she would get Leo to Lay down and at least relax for an hour if she couldn't get him to sleep. But just incase he protested, Margaret also called up to the Residence and spoke to one of the agents to find out the status of the Bartlets. She knew he would want to know how his friends were doing and whether or not they were able to find some solace in sleep before having to face the day and what was to come as they were relegated to simply being worried parents and having to accept the decisions others made regarding their daughter's safety and security.

Quietly, she walked into his office and found him sitting hunched over his desk comparing the latest NSA and Secret Service reports for anything different between them that might lead them to Zoey. Without a word, she walked up behind his chair and pulled the reports from his hands.

"Hey," Leo protested. "I need to read those."

"And you can. In an hour," Margaret informed him and she reached out and pulled his glasses off as well.

"Margaret, I have to be prepared in case he needs me," Leo said, leaving the 'he' undefined. 

Margaret knew which 'he' Leo meant. Leo meant President Bartlet and not the acting President. His first loyalty would always be to Jed Bartlet even if he was currently working for Glen Walken. "Debbie has guaranteed me they could do without you for a while. I called up to the Residence and the Bartlets are finally sleeping," she informed him. Taking the folders and his glasses, she set them on the conference table as she walked around the room turning off the lights, leaving only one to cast a dim glow in the room.

"Margaret?" he questioned. He'd seen many sides of Margaret over the years he'd know her, but this one always surprised him because it was the one he rarely saw.

Returning to her position behind his chair, she began to massage the knots from his neck and shoulders in hopes she would be able to relax him enough to sleep. "*He's* asleep. *He* doesn't need you right now. It's time to sleep."

Tipping his head forward to give her better access to his neck, he enjoyed the feel of her hands as she deftly worked the tension from his neck and shoulders. "Will you sleep?" he finally asked, knowing her answer but wanting to express his concern for her anyway.

"When you do," she replied, continuing to work the loosening muscles until she was more caressing him than actually massaging his shoulders.

He rolled his chair back just enough so she knew to move away. When he was sure he wouldn't run over her, he pushed back from his desk and stood. Taking her hand, he informed her, "Since you went to all the effort to make sure I sleep. You will too," as he led her to the sofa. He knew she was just as tired as he pretended not to be. She'd been in the office as long as he'd been and had been just as stubborn about sleeping.

She was surprised when he'd taken her hand in his. She was even more surprised when he sat down on the sofa, positioning himself in the corner, but on the edge, and ungracefully pulled her down next to him, so she fit between him and the back of the sofa. "Leo?" she questioned, hoping her being on the sofa with him wasn't a figment of her sleep deprived imagination. They didn't do this. Not in the office, at least. They did this at home where they could enjoy the few and far between quiet moments they were able to spend together. They kept their relationship so private that the only ones who knew about them were Mallory, Charlie and the Bartlets. The only reason they told them was because Leo wanted his daughter and closest friends to know about their relationship. He didn't like the idea of keeping something like this from them. Charlie was told because of his friendship with her and the fact she had taken the young man under her wing after Mrs. Landingham had died.

"Sleep Maggie," Leo whispered, tucking her head against his shoulder and dropping a kiss on her head as she got settled.

She was about to protest the nickname but she didn't feel like sparing with him about it at the moment. He'd never stop calling her Maggie and at least it wasn't as bad as some of the nicknames he could have come up with to call her. Laying against him, her arm wrapped around his chest, she smiled as she listened to his heart rate slow and his breathing evened out indicating he was falling asleep. She'd been worried about him but not that he was sleeping she could also sleep. The others could look to Leo to know what to do, but she was going to make sure that in the coming days, Leo knew he could look to her to not only be a sounding board but that she would also be there to support him in whatever he had to do. There was no way she was going to let him break under the burden of being the one they all turned to.


End file.
